kids club holidays like Neilson

[NotMyDayJob]

We're already looking at holidays for 2023 after semi successful holiday this year (air bnb and extended family in southern Spain). We've seen Neilson holidays with beach club for kids and activities for DH top secret hobby (aka cycling). Our DD1 will be five years old and has so much energy she is completely outstripping what we can do with her (and we're active people) as we also have current 5 month old DD2 (so would be about 18 months next summer). Not looking for club provision for her but am exhausted and frazzled on this holiday and interested in options to provide a bit more childcare for the four year old (we have GPs with us but they just can't keep up with her) so even if I am with baby it's a bit more relaxing. Have also realised that while I deeply appreciate the help from the GPs we have to entertain them as well as they are both of the we don't mind what we do mindset so we're making all the decisions.

So in summary, somewhere with decent kids club, possibly activities for grown ups but we could organise independently if needed. Babysitting service a plus but not essential. Happy to throw money at the problem within reason.

Mark Warner - they have exclusive use of hotels throughout the Med and can heartily recommend them for their kids clubs. Lots of sports for the adults. Food isn't Michelin starred but beats having to wash up every meal time

Great, thanks, well look into it. Very happy for food not to be cordon bleu, we can take ourselves out for a fancy meal if we want, I just don't want to be the one making the decisions

I went with Neilsons (going again this year) and it was brilliant, the kids clubs were amazing and they had so much fun and we hardly saw them so got to do our own activities and just chill out by the pool. Check the resort details as some only offer mountain biking if DH is a roady. People who were there who'd also done Mark Warner said they rated Neilsons better.

Thanks @emmathedilemma that's really helpful. Do you mind me asking which resorts you've gone to/are going to? We've seen that some only do mountain biking and yes it is road biking that DH wants (I'm not a cycling widow he bikes no where near as much as he'd like to)

We've done both Neilson and Mark Warner and Neilson are better. Going to Neilson Sardinia again this summer. The kids clubs are the shit, the activities are great. The food and accommodation are good.

Mark Warner worked for us.

Great to hear, Sardinia is one of the ones we were looking at

Have a look at club med. the website is infuriating but run the costs through and they come up reasonable.

Kids under 6 stay free

I went to the Croatia resort (I think it’s the only one) and going to the retreat in Greece next month. Our options for direct flights with Neilsons are limited so that very much dictated our choice but road bikes was part of that decision!

Neilson is better than Mark Warner in our experience. Kids club for your eldest is included in the price (but you need to book her in to make sure you get a space). Its all very flexible and you can drop in and out of the kids clubs as you like - they post a list of the next day's activities so you can plan around that and your own activities. For your youngest you could organise some nanny time to give yourself a real break, not included in the holiday cost but worth every penny in my opinion!

Thanks everyone, the option to get a nanny @dogatetheremote for a couple of hours is very attractive (she'll only just be in nursery so we're reticent to leave her too much). We'll check out all the suggestions but I do think Neilson with MAMiL activities could be a winner 😂

Dh is a cyclist and we went to the campsites in the Alps when the dc were younger. Something like La Ravoire near Annecy which has loads of kids activities. We also went to Puerto Pollensa again for the cycling but a great resort for little kids and most of the hotels will have kids clubs

It's not the same quality as Neilson, but a cheaper option is Tui Magic Life - they offer cycling and mountain biking guided rides, and tennis coaching, and some watersports (all resort dependent). And have a kids club for a couple of hours a day.

Or for an even cheaper option, Tui Blue, no activities but do have childcare for a couple of hours each day.

Have a look at club med. the website is infuriating but run the costs through and they come up reasonable
We tried one in Italy but the club was completely French.

Thank you, we need something more than childcare we need something that will tire DD4 out but I'll look at Tui Magic Life

I honestly don't think you'll find anything better than Neilson. The kids really enjoy the activities, and twice a week you have the session that goes on into the evening so you can have dinner yourselves as well. It's a real holiday for us all and we adore it. DH is a sailing freak and I windsurf and cycle so we tend to be on the active side anyway.

Mark Warner is sort of supposed to be slightly less activity oriented and more nice food and wine oriented, but our experience of it was that the kids club wasn't as good, the activities weren't as good and the food and wine were no better.

Mark Warner is great for activities (my whole family learnt to sail, windsurf, waterski) and fantastic for adult only meals.